A body was discovered inside an abandoned house in the 3000 block of Columbus Road in Macon on Wednesday night, prompting an investigation by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office. Deputies responded after the Macon-Bibb E-911 Center received a call just after 10 p.m. reporting a deceased person inside the vacant residence. As of Thursday, investigators had not identified who was found or said how long the body had been there.
Deputies who arrived at the scene confirmed the discovery, according to 13WMAZ. The sheriff's office's Criminal Investigation Division and Crime Scene Unit were both called in to investigate.
Identity and Cause of Death Remain Unclear
Investigators had not identified the person inside the home as of Thursday, and the circumstances surrounding the death have not been released, the station's report notes. Deputy Coroner Lonnie Miley said the remains will be sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab, where examiners will work to determine the person's identity. No timeline has been given for when results from that examination might come back.
Per the same account, authorities have also not determined how long the body had been inside the residence before it was found. The investigation remains ongoing, and no additional details about what led to the death have been made public.
Columbus Road's History With Unsolved Cases
This is not the first time a body has turned up at a vacant property along Columbus Road in Macon. In June 2018, a decomposed female body was found behind a vacant house in the 2800 block of the same road, according to macon.com. That discovery came after someone noticed a foul odor near the property, and the woman — found wearing a red shirt featuring the Dr. Seuss “Thing 1” character — could not be identified by race or cause of death because of the body's condition.
That 2018 report also detailed other open Macon cases from the same period, including the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Jamarta Chennelle Clark on Elpis Street and the death of Hillard Martin, who was found in an alley behind a house that October. Both killings remained unsolved as of June 2018, per macon.com's reporting.
Anyone With Information Is Asked to Come Forward
Bibb County investigators are asking anyone with information about the body found this week to contact the Bibb County Sheriff's Office at 478-751-7500. Tips can also be submitted to Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME. No further updates on the victim's identity or the cause of death had been released as of Thursday.
